Lent Has Come Again.

Happy Lent! Oh, the first day of such a season. It's always such an adventure the first day of giving something up...then there's the fourth day, and the fourth week, and the fortieth day. Those days get longer and longer, but TODAY it's still new and exciting.

I know many people love to exercise their "Christian liberties" and not give something up for Lent. I get it. I have done that most years. I can absolutely respect that. But for me, it wasn't so much exercising my liberty in Christ as it was laziness. In fact, I wasn't exercising anything and my spirituality was getting fat. Just the way I like it. :)

So this Lent season, I've decided to give up using my debit card. I know that sounds lame to some people, but I use the card like candy. I went to a financial workshop last Saturday and realized that I spend much more in a month than I make, and it's just coming out of savings. Ouch. So, my resolution for these next forty days it to only use cash. Once it's gone, I'm done spending until I get another babysitting job.

I decided on this just this morning...yes, I'm the last minute procrastinator type. So as I was praying about this this morning, I felt that I shouldn't just give something up, but also add something to my routine. Take out a negative and replace it with a positive. So I'm adding to my routine a vow of silence of sorts. No, not the kind that nuns take (can you imagine? Me...not talking...for 40 days...unreal). I'm adding to my day thirty minutes of silence and solitude after classes each day. In those thirty minutes, I'm going to listen. Listen to the noise around me, listen to my breathing, listen to the Spirit.

I'm not quiet very often. Even now, I'm very aware of the sound of my fingers on the keys. It's a beautiful sound, one that has come to mean that my heart and my world are being connected.

So, here's to these next forty days. Forty days of listening and not over-spending. Can it be done? We're about to find out.